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iPad Is moving from 10.5 to Air 3 a downgrade?

emembee

emembee

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 31, 2013
330
102
Surrey,UK
Just considering this as my Pro is now 2.5 years old, battery not holding charge so long anymore though performance is still good but I am wondering about longevity and whether to change now or wait.

The cons moving to the air seem to be less ram, no pro motion which might affect pencil latency but I only use for note taking and rarely watch videos. Also the Air has only 2 speakers, but I do not think the 10.5 speakers are that good and prefer to use headphones.

Are there any other good reasons not to consider this, the 11 pro seems too expensive for the difference and I would also need a new pencil + case. It does seem there is not much enthusiasm for the air, not sure why?

Thanks for any ideas.
 
How bad is the battery vs when it was new? Is it out of warranty? How much would be cheapest battery replacement? How long have you been using it and how long do you plan on using Air if you get one?
Id stay with 10.5 if battery can be replaced for reasonable price. Nothing against Air, but, imho, aside from CPU being more powerful, everything else should be downgrade give or take compared to 10.5.
 
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What's the battery health on your old iPad? You can check with iMazing on Windows or Coconut on Mac.

If it's below 80%, official battery replacement from Apple is just $99. Since you mentioned performance is still good, it's probably worth doing that than buying a new iPad. Apple can't swap iPad batteries in store so they'll likely give you a new or refurb replacement.

I have both Pro 10.5 and Air 3 and for the most part, I find them interchangeable. The Air 3, I primarily use at the office for PDF markup (with Logitech Crayon).
 
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Battery is still 82% but of course was 100% new so I know that's normal, the issue was whether if I moved to the air it would be that different I do not expect the A12 is much faster, bu at least it is more up to date and will last me till I get one of the new gen models when I am ready.
 
I might just wait for Gen 4 and if 10.5 battery is bad then get it replaced, cost is about 100 GBP. Forunately never had the white spot issue quite a few guys mentioned on these forums here so fingers crossed!

Thanks.
 
EugW said:
Screen is same size.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I was thinking of iPad Air 2 there. My bad.

emembee said:
I might just wait for Gen 4 and if 10.5 battery is bad then get it replaced, cost is about 100 GBP. Forunately never had the white spot issue quite a few guys mentioned on these forums here so fingers crossed!
Click to expand...
Good luck with that! Fun fact, most of us never had any issue that gets mentioned on these forums. Many issues get blown way out of proportion, like the bent iPads - just get what you want and if it does not meet your expectations, that's what the 14-days returning period is for. All the best to you :)
 
MandiMac said:
Thanks, I was thinking of iPad Air 2 there. My bad.


Good luck with that! Fun fact, most of us never had any issue that gets mentioned on these forums. Many issues get blown way out of proportion, like the bent iPads - just get what you want and if it does not meet your expectations, that's what the 14-days returning period is for. All the best to you :)
Click to expand...

I actually have a small white spot (more of a small squiggly white line, actually) and it's the first time I've ever had any hardware defect on an Apple device. That being said, it's so minor and not really visible most of the time that I never even bothered to have it replaced, which you can do not just in the first 14 days, but as long as it's under warranty/AppleCare.

So no, fear of defective hardware shouldn't be what deters anyone from making a purchase. Odds are there will be no defect, and if there is, it can easily be exchanged.
 
emembee said:
I might just wait for Gen 4 and if 10.5 battery is bad then get it replaced, cost is about 100 GBP. Forunately never had the white spot issue quite a few guys mentioned on these forums here so fingers crossed!

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Be careful, they often swap the ipad instead of actually replacing the battery, so you could get one with a white spot.... And quite a lot of 10.5 have this issue...
 
Digitalguy said:
Be careful, they often swap the ipad instead of actually replacing the battery, so you could get one with a white spot.... And quite a lot of 10.5 have this issue...
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No. You wouldn’t get one with the white spot. And even if you did somehow get one, you’d just swap again.
 
It's not a downgrade- the Air 3 with the A12 chip outperforms the A10 chip in the iPad Pro 10.5 by a wide margin. I personally sold my 11-inch 2018 iPad Pro and got a cellular model Air 3 and am very happy.
 
I had both for a while. When I bought a 11 Pro I also bought an Air 3 so I could give my parents the old 10.5 Pro for one and the Air 3 for the other - so had them for a while to compare. My take is the Air 3 is faster and has much better battery life (although of course my 10.5 Pro was older). But everything else about the Pro I liked MUCH better. The Promotion screen, the speakers, the camera were/are more important to me. So I if I had to chose one for myself I would have kept the 10.5 Pro and would have spent the $99 to replace the battery.
 
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If I had to move on from my 10.5 Pro I would definitely be replacing it with an Air 3. I have an Air 3 at work and it works quite well! With my usage (web browsing, light/simple games, reading recipes, researching house projects, fantasy football, etc.) the Air 3 would be very similar to my 10.5. If I watched a lot of videos on my iPad, then it might be another story (that's where the promotion and the speakers really shine).
 
Yes it is a downgrade. I have both and the 10.5 is the better experience.

The only thing the Air 3 has going for it is the better battery life, imo. The A12 vs A10x performance difference is almost unnoticeable to me.
 
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I'm in a similar boat as OP (battery just isn't lasting as long as it used to) but I feel it's a downgrade just due to the memory differences alone. The A10X is still a beast. Multitasking, slide over, split screen, etc are super smooth and fast so the switch to A12 is negligible.

But the key for me is being able to keep a higher number of tabs open and not have to refresh when switching. So I'm going to go the battery replacement route. I have the white spot but it's gotten to the point where I don't even notice it. So if Apple gives me a refurb as a replacement I get a new screen too. Win/win for me.
 
If you’re sold on a new iPad, I would wait and see what the fourth generation Pro will look like. Or just get your 10.5 replaced.

Pro Motion is something of a must have for me ever since I got my 12.9”. Going to an Air 3 just seems like too much of a compromise just for a processor bump coming from your 10.5 iPP.
 
Is pencil latency much worse on the air vs 10.5? Note taking and mark-up only, no fancy artwork.

I guess it is down to the cost as the Gen3 or 4 when it comes will still need a new pencil and case and I am not sure of the benefit for my usage. My current ASK and pencil will work fine with Air3 too, and trade in price is poor so I would rather hand it down and get a replacement. No immediate rush and if there are good deals on G3 I might go that way. Thanks to all.
 
emembee said:
Is pencil latency much worse on the air vs 10.5? Note taking and mark-up only, no fancy artwork.
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It's not bad. I think disabling ProMotion in Accessibility settings should give you an idea what to expect.

I got this and this over the holidays. No pressure sensitivity on either and I think the Adonit Note doesn't support tilt. For simple note taking and markup though, I love the no-pairing-needed convenience of these Apple Pencil-like alternatives so I actually tend to prefer the Air 3 for those tasks.
 
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